Sullivan & Cromwell has hired a team of lawyers from rival Kirkland & Ellis to build a US private equity practice, a marked shift for the elite firm that has largely avoided acting for buyout groups. The firm has historically focused on Fortune 500 clients rather than private capital dealmakers. Hiring the four Kirkland partners—Hamed Meshki, Luke Guerra, Guirgis Nasief, and Y Michael Chung—will mark the first time S&C has had a team of US partners solely working on private equity deals.

Scott Miller, co-chair of S&C, told the FT that private equity is now a third of M&A activity in the US and that the firm must participate in that part of the market. The group specialises in private equity-led acquisitions and counts Oaktree Capital and Clearlake Capital as clients. Miller said that in the past, acting for buyout groups was seen as inconsistent with representing large companies on M&A deals, but perceptions have changed.

Law firms such as Kirkland and Latham & Watkins have grown rapidly due to private equity’s boom. The hires come amid a talent war among Wall Street law firms, which have historically relied on homegrown talent. S&C has also been expanding its London private equity operation, recently hiring Kon Asimacopoulos, Michael Francies, Barney Reynolds, and Viet Dinh.